Children have a variety of different types of projectile launching toys available to them. For example, HASBRO® makes an entire line of NERF® weaponry that fire NERF® projectiles. NERF® is a trademarked term well known in the toy industry and is associated with soft foam-like material. Other than weaponry, NERF® is also commonly associated with sports balls such as footballs, basketballs, and others. Over the years, a large number of NERF® foam-based weaponry products have been developed, including various blasters that launch various types of NERF® projectiles including darts, rockets, and balls.
NERF® foam is a spongy cellular material produced by the reaction of polyester with a diisocyanate. The polyester resin reacts with the diisocyanate while CO2 is simultaneously released by another reaction. The CO2 gas creates open pockets within the polyurethane that give the NERF® foam its soft and light properties.
One reason the NERF® foam and other foam based projectile toys have became so popular has been due to the soft and light properties of the foam material. For example, NERF® balls were originally marketed as the “world's first official indoor ball.” These same soft and light properties also make NERF® and other foams a great material for projectiles. Projectiles made from NERF® and other similar foams can be formed into balls and darts and fired from toy weaponry with little risk of injury. To this end, HASBRO® and other toy manufacturers have created numerous toy weaponry lines that shoot foam based projectiles including the N-Strike® line of toys.
Although NERF® and other foam like materials can be used to make toy weaponry projectiles that are relatively safe to project or launch, the properties of NERF® and other foam like materials have some significant drawbacks when used as projectiles for projectile launching toys. Because foam based materials such as NERF® foam are light, they are highly susceptible to air forces when trying to project them through the air in free flight as occurs when fired from toy weaponry. The soft, light properties of foam and NERF® type products are due to their low density. The low density of foam based projectiles decreases the momentum of the projectiles, which in turn increases the effect of air resistance, drag, and other motion retarding forces. This causes foam based projectiles to rapidly slow after initial firing and easily curve off line.
There are also small projectile systems for gaming and professional training purposes. These include paint ball guns and airsoft guns, but these systems are for adult use only due to the energy imparted to the projectile and the ability of the projectile to do serious harm.